Four Days, One Chance!
by Lanati
Summary: During the war, Roy's unit is sent to end it by taking out the Ishbalan leader. What happens when everything goes explosively wrong? War, conspiracy, love, Kimbley? See what happens! Royai in later chapters.
1. Four Days

**Title**: _Four Days, One Chance!_  
**Genre**: Action, Romance  
**Pairing**: Riza/Roy  
**Rating**: Pg-13, possibly R with later chapters (for adult situations, war time violence, gore, and swearing)  
**Disclaimer**: I don't know what you talkin' 'bout, son.

Four days had passed without any sign of the target. First Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye was a patient person, but pushing five days of staying hidden was wearing on her. The mission, as told to her by Major Mustang, was supposed to be a simple quick in, quick out one: while he led their unit on the ground to take some important hostages, she was to take out a key Ishbalan leader, in effort to diminish the enemy's will to fight. It was a sound plan, one that had already been used to great success a number of times in the past. After all, that was a key reason Snipers were used. What no one saw coming was the well organized resistance; was the sudden trench war in the middle of the street. Riza had watched it all unfold from her perch high in a tower spire of an abandoned Ishbalan temple.

She was in fear the entire time. She knew it was worse for everyone on the ground, and tried her best to cover whom she could. It was hell for three days straight. It wasn't until a day ago things had come to a stand still, leaving Major Mustang and his men cornered while slowly being picked off.

"So much for holding the initiative on this mission." She muttered sarcastically.

"Sir?" Came the whisper of her spotter.

She waved him off, telling him it wasn't important. This was his first assignment out on the frontlines with her. So far, he had demonstrated a lot of talent, but now that it all had turned into a waiting game, his greenness was showing through. He kept talking, which wasn't helping her delicate patience at the moment. Her legs were falling asleep from laying on her stomach for so long, again not helping. She shifted her weight from side to side in efforts to relieve the discomfort. If only the damn man would come out, or another target of opportunity would present itself, she could finally move!

"Sir, to the right, where Major Mustang is."

"What's there?"

"Looks like a few Reds are trying to sneak behind the unit."

She immediately swung her rifle and scope to where her spotter indicated. Sure enough, a few brave Ishbalans were attempting to get the best of the Flame Alchemist and his men. Adrenaline rushed her, not while she was watching! Her shoulders tensed up, she nuzzled her cheek into her gun to better view through the scope, a few smooth breaths came from her mouth, all of this was her sacred ritual before shooting.

"Wind direction?"

"North, north-west." Responded the spotter.

Perfect, the wind would guide her well this shot. There were four Ishbalans hugging a wall of a building located behind Mustang's troops. One slowly stuck his head around the corner to check his location. _He must be the leader, ah, yes, he's giving the other's orders now. He's my target._ One last slow breath as she took aim, watching as the man raised a weapon, taking aim as well. She thought about the irony before she took her shot. The Ishbalan was attempting to take a leader out, to 'diminish the enemy's will to fight' just as she was doing the same.

The leader slumped where he stood, red trailing his fall down the sand colored wall. The three others who had been with him shrieked before scattering. Riza watched them to follow their path back to their hideout. Perhaps they would lead her to the man she was after. Light flared in her scope suddenly causing her to jerk away from it.

"Damn, I heard stories and've seen glimpses … but that's an awesome sight." Her spotter said in shock. "They don't call him the 'Flame' for nothing." He lowered his binoculars and grinned.

Riza rubbed her eye quickly before resuming her watch through the scope. Frustration seeped into her mental state. A quick check … sure enough, three still on fire corpses littered the pathway. Obscenities pooled in her mouth for Mustang. He just took her only chance of getting down from that wretched tower, curse him and his alchemy. Swinging her scope to locate the Major, her breath caught as his face appeared looking directly back at her. He signaled the "OK" sign with his fingers, before giving orders to his men.

"Where do those flames come from? Man, I wish I could do that, save me some money maybe."

Riza sat up from her gun after taking another calming breath. Really, she normally wasn't this touchy with everything. "Why is that Second Lieutenant?" Good, her voice was even.

"All that money wasted on matches." He brought his hand in front of his mouth where an unlit cigarette hung limply and snapped. "Save me time too." He chuckled a bit and smiled back at her.

"Something tells me you wouldn't have to worry about that."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"The lack of a head in-between your shoulders after your first attempt."

The Second Lieutenant choked a bit and stared at her before sighing. "You can be a real ice queen when you want to be, you know that? First, threatening to shoot me for asking you out, now this. Tch, real lady like of you." A playful smirk crept onto his face.

Riza's patience was dangerously low now. Even though she knew he was joking, it didn't mean she would let him get away with it. "Second Lieutenant Havoc-"

The entire building shook as a shockwave from a near by explosion bounced off it. The two jumped to their scopes to locate the source. Her heart was pounding in her throat as the last location of her unit was now swallowed in smoke and debris.

"Shit, Ishbalans are starting to swarm. That explosion looked to be from Major Kimbley's unit coming to back up Mustang."

Riza only half listened, she was searching the sudden rush of Ishbalans for the leader she needed to take out. They were almost on top of Mustang's area, and with the smoke still blocking her sight of the troops she had no idea of how many were alive or injured. She had to keep the Ishbalan's busy somehow.

Chaos was a mild term when used to describe the streets. People were everywhere. Screaming, cursing, gun fire, explosions, all one jumbled orchestra of pure noise trapped behind a curtain of debris filled smoke. Choking on the sandy smoke was Major Roy Mustang, desperately trying to hold his unit together.

"_Sergeant Daniel_! Take four men and dig down behind that building to the west. _You_," he pointed to a man gripping his rifle so hard he was shivering, "stop being worthless and take another four to the east. We're going to bottle-neck them."

"Sir?"

"Do you understand what I'm saying? **_Watch it_**" He uttered a low growl as he pushed the man's face to the ground, snapping immediately afterwards. In the not so far off distance, a wall collapsed on a group of rushing Ishbalans. He picked the scared soldier up off the ground, looking him in the eyes. "We're all going to die if you don't get a hold of yourself. Now _move_!"

With his men in place, he gave the order to fire. Red's fell everywhere. Some tripped over the downed fighters opening themselves up to Mustang's central unit of gunmen. He watched their back to make sure they couldn't be surprised from the rear, flame exploding now and again down the street way. Mustang's unit began to push the rush of fighters back as fewer and fewer Reds made the attempt to attack. Roy gave the order to regroup closer to the point of the Ishbalan's entry. Everyone was in the middle of the square now, setting up shields to protect from enemy returned fire.

From the corner of his eye Roy caught a stray man running towards him wielding a large, bloody combat knife. There wasn't any time for Roy to snap. The man was already too close. Roy's mind slurred. It was happening so fast that he still brought his hand up to snap anyway. A second later the attacker's head whipped backwards, eyes rolled into their sockets as blood sprayed in all directions. The body collapsed in a heap to the dirt ground. The only evidence of what had happened was the hole centered between the eyes. The mark of a sniper.

Roy, soaked with blood and heaving to catch his breath, turned to the tower where he knew the only person capable of that shot was hiding. He smirked at her in thanks. He turned to give more orders. There was a earsplitting explosion from his left--then the world went black.

* * *

**A/N**: _So! How goes it? Tell me what's wrong I will fix it. I reread these things so many times, I lose my mistakes after a while and can't find them to fix them. On another note, this is an older piece I scribbled down one night after watching a Black Hawk Down marathon on the history channel. It was then followed by a show detailing Snipers! It was a sign I tell you! A sign! People might be going "Woah! Wait, Havoc? What the..." But let me assure you, I'm not doing it for the fan base. Those History Channel specials got me thinking about the set up with FMA. Havoc really is a random guy to have in Roy's group. You only ever see Havoc with guns, and is always backing up Riza. So! I thought about it and realized it would make sense that Havoc could have been Riza's spotter (as snipers actually work in PAIRS instead of solo). Please review! It keeps me going, and as I hate it when other authors stop writing good stories, don't let me become one! It's up to you! XD lol_  



	2. Deadly Exits and Celebration

**Title**: _Four Days, One Chance!_  
**Genre**: Action, Romance  
**Pairing**: Riza/Roy  
**Rating**: Pg-13, possibly R with later chapters (for adult situations, war time violence, gore, and swearing)  
**Disclaimer**: I don't know what you talkin' 'bout, son.

* * *

"Oh, my God." Hawkeye could feel the blood drain from her body only to pool sickeningly in her stomach. She had watched him turn towards his men. He had been ok. She had killed the attacker before harm had come to the Major. Then there was the quake of the tower, knocking her and Havoc's sights off. When she was able to get into position again, the square no longer existed. 

"Shit!" Havoc cried out. "What the hell caused that? Are the troops all alright?"

She didn't answer. Instead she bit her lip searching the rubble and black smoke for any signs of her comrades. She found one. A jacketless soldier, with long hair wrapped into a ponytail stood atop a large pile of rubble, faint traces of glow emanating from his palms. Riza couldn't breathe.

"Damn, these Reds are getting sneakier. I can't find anyone! The rubble is in the way." Obvious panic could be heard in his voice. "Wait…I can see something moving." He strained through his binoculars. "Our men are trapped beneath the debris. I can see some crawling their way out. No sign of Mustang yet, though." He looked over to his partner. "Hey, you alright?"

He couldn't tell, but Riza Hawkeye had known exactly what had happened. Kimbley was too outspoken about the joys of his specific alchemy, and to see him standing atop all his destruction as some sort of king … it sickened her. Kimbley was laughing now. She could see this clearly because his forehead was dead center in her cross-hairs. No one from his unit was with him, he alone stood there laughing. Her finger began pulling back the trigger before she realized what she was doing. He had murdered his own men, possibly her unit was well. Mustang was buried beneath the rubble that Kimbley had caused. Her patience was done. Her anger shook her entire body. White rage rushed her.

"Hawkeye! Hey! Snap out of it!" Havoc grabbed the sniper rifle from her just before the trigger would have been pulled back far enough. "You ok? You're trembling, and you wouldn't, er … respond, um, Hello?"

"Second Lieutenant Jean Havoc." Her voice was eerily steady and low. "If you ever pull my gun from me again, I will see to it your career in the military ends."

Havoc could only swallow hard at her.

"We don't have time for this!" She snapped. "We need to get back to base and tell the others. If we hurry we might be able to save some of our men."

"But what do we tell them? The west wall decided to explode onto everyone?"

"We tell them what happened. Major Kimbley used his own men as cannon fodder."

Havoc paled. "He used his men… as ingredients? An-and blew up our unit?"

She forced her breathing to be calm. "I don't think he was aware of the full situation. Let's go, quickly." _Mustang might still be alive_.

The gear was quickly collected and packed. Within minutes the room looked as if it had never been a nest of a sniper team. They cautiously snuck around the back alleys working their way out of the city. Smaller explosions accompanied by the never ending noise of gun fire came at them from all sides. It was tense, to say the least when their only way out of the city was met by Ishbalans setting up blockades.

"Great." Havoc muttered, checking behind them after seeing the armed men guarding the exit.

"This way." Hawkeye darted behind a few crates and rubble, Havoc in tow. "We obviously can't take them out."

"There's only two-"

"Standing there. I'm sure since they found the military's _secret_ exit, there are a fair few more than just two in this area."

"Then what-"

She clamped her hand over his mouth at the same time pulling him down lower into the shadows. Six more armed men appeared and began talking to the two guards.

"Word's good, even though we just lost about 100 men." Said one, blood spattered and missing a few teeth.

A second man smirked. "Yeah, the fact we nabbed a few hostages makes up for it."

"What are we going to do with hostages? The military won't stop over just a couple men." The guard looked around nervously before being lightly punched in the shoulder by the first man to talk.

"We're planning on sending a message to the Amestrians. They've butchered our people enough with that alchemy they love so much." At this he spat to the ground. "It's high time we show 'em what we can do without that sinful garbage!"

At this, they all laughed and snickered, however the one guard still looking around nervously didn't join in.

"I still don't know what we're going to do with hostages."

"Are you stupid?" Another of the group said. "Best way to scare them out is to show them what happens when they get caught."

"Doesn't make much sense." Tried the guard again.

"Look, I'll just tell you straight out how it's going. When the west wall of the central square blew, thanks to one of those stupid alchemists of theirs, it took out the entire group of soldiers advancing on us. The few survivors that made it out of the rubble were either killed on sight, or were taken off down the street in celebration."

The guard visibly swallowed at this, Riza noticed, her own stomach painfully clenching.

The man much too happy continued. "One of the hostages we got happens to be an alchemist. Once we're through with him, the military will have gotten a good strong message, hehe."

"You just picked up an alchemist?" The startled guard swallowed again.

"Well, we had to do some looking, but we found him in a building a few feet away. We thought he was dead, which would have been better for him with the plan we're going to use. But, no, the guy groaned and coughed a bit, so we took him."

Havoc and Riza both sat still as fear washed over them. Only two alchemists were in that square after the explosion, and Kimbley was the one standing on top of it all. The world went dizzy to Riza. The only thing connecting her to it was the sludge like feeling enveloping her insides. There had been survivors, but they were killed on sight. The enemy now had an alchemist as a hostage. _Her_ Major was now a prisoner that the enemy was planning on using as a 'message' to the military. The simple plan that she had confidently marched into a few days ago had definitely gone as wrong as possible. The dizzy gave way to something else: anger, hopelessness, and more anger. She reached for her handgun.

The Ishbalan soldiers were all laughing at something. Again, the one guard wasn't joining in. Instead, he still looked around as if a shadow would solidify into the enemy any second.

Havoc saw the glint of metal before he knew what was happening. "Wait!" He hissed, grabbing Hawkeye's wrist.

"Let me go!" She growled back. "This is the second time you-"

Havoc ignored her warning tone and clamped his hand this time over her mouth. "You can kick me out of the military later, but right now I'm not going to let you commit suicide. They're too many of them."

She glared back. The grip grew firmer. She knew he was right. The logical side she normally swore by had been screaming at her to be patient. The emotional side, the side that a soldier during a war had to bitterly crush to survive, had been screaming quite the opposite. She took a deep breath, thinking how grateful she was to this new recruit of hers.

"Wait! There's someone over there!" They heard the guard shout. They both froze watching the enemies turn around with guns ready.

Riza heard Havoc mutter off a few obscenities as he drew his own gun. Both readied themselves to jump out from their hiding spot, firing when footsteps from behind distracted them.

They looked back to see an Amestrian soldier running down the alley at full speed. He was obviously injured and covered in dirty clumps of blood.

"Stop right there!" Yelled the Ishbalan guard. "Who are you? Answer or we'll fire on you!"

The footsteps didn't loose their tempo. There was a loud bang, followed by the guard dropping to his knees. The seven other Ishbalans watched the man fall. **_Bang-bang_**! Two more men fell to the ground.

The Amestrian soldier had run past Riza and Havoc's hiding spot by this point, still firing. He dropped a third man, injuring a fourth. The last three armed men began firing wildly at the soldier. The gun flew from the soldier's hand, a bullet wound to the leg stopped him running, another bullet pierced his right shoulder. Yet, the soldier still tried to make for the exit.

The Ishbalans were about to end the soldier's life when suddenly two of them fell dead from bullet wounds in the head. The final Ishbalan, the one who had been talking so much previously turned to see Hawkeye and Havoc standing from their hiding spot. Havoc was reloading, but Hawkeye narrowed her eyes. The Ishbalan spun to aim at her, only to be shot square between the eyes.

Riza fired again, hitting him in the heart. Again, the shoulder, again a leg, again, and again until her clip was empty, finally letting the body fall to the ground. Havoc was staring at her in mild alarm. She replaced her clip and walked calmly to the fallen Amestrian soldier. Miraculously, the man was still alive despite the wounds.

He looked at her and smiled. "You saved me, I think."

She swallowed, looking at his wounds. "Why did you run into the middle of all those men?"

"Had to…get through. Important …news." His breath was becoming ragged.

She grabbed first aid supplies from the gear bag strapped to her back. "What news? What's your name?"

"D-daniels. Sergeant in …Major..Mustangs unit." He bucked as she tied gauze around his leg to stem the blood flow.

Riza gasped. He was a survivor from the ambushing? "Mustang, is he all right? Are there other survivors?"

"Don't know, but Mustang was …taken hostage." Blood spattered places as Daniels coughed. Wincing he said, "That's why I had to get through, tell Gran about …what happened."

Her fears had been confirmed with this young man's report. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with anything useful. She had to rescue Mustang. It would take too long to run back to camp as originally planned. That small emotional voice began to pick at her once more. What if it was too late? What if he had already been killed? What if-

**_Bang!_**

She spun around toward the gunshot. "Havoc!"

"This bastard was still alive. He drew a blade on me." It was stated as if he were repeating orders. He toed the body checking for signs of movement.

Riza watched this in a detached manner. Time was running out. "Havoc, take Sergeant Daniels back to Gran and have him tell the General everything."

"Ok, but one problem." He said walking over to help Daniels up. "You aren't including yourself in this. Why?"

"I'm going to locate where they are holding Major Mustang."

"Whoa, hold on. We're a team Hawkeye. You may outrank me, but I am not going to let you wander this hell zone alone."

"It's an order Lieutenant." She calmly, yet firmly said. She grabbed a few more ammunition clips from the gear bag, slung her rifle over her shoulder, then stood and looked at him.

"You're not thinking clearly! This past week has made you insane. There are Reds everywhere! You're going to get killed, Hawkeye, and I'm-"

"Going to take Daniels back for medical treatment before he is a casualty." She cut him off. "Now follow your orders. Make sure to tell Gran about Kimbley as well. He'll want to know why reinforcements are needed."

"But!"

She stared at him determinedly.

"Fine, fine." He threw one of Daniel's arms around his shoulders, heaving him up. "But I'm coming straight back, and you better not be dead."

She watched Havoc escort the limping Daniels through the exit before turning down the alleyway.

* * *

**A/N:** _Yay! Chapter 2! is proud Just so my conscious is clear on this, I have always believed Riza to show much more emotion than what the fandom protrays. She is a human afterall. It was also my belief that back during the war she wasn't as, erm, emotionally polished as she is in the present. But, hell, that's why she's awesome! XD This is a Royai story. I promise. There will be some next chapter! Tell me what you think! You people are awesome! Oh ... and Kimbley is not done yet.  
_

**Shadow Dreamer 27: **_I really tried to put real world stuff in. I am so happy you noticed! I like things to make since, guess that's the inner scientist (Alchemist? ) in me, haha_

**loyalsoul:**_ You really thought my detail was well done? Well, I hope I didn't disappoint you with this chapter. I had a killer headache while writing this. I tried not to let the story suffer! _

**Locked. Loaded. and Waiting: **_I am not one to be egotistical, but I must say I am very proud that I came up with Havoc being her spotter. I'm trying to make sense out of everything during the war. I already messed up with their ranks, but oh well. This is meant to be slightly AU, but still make since ... if that even did ..._**  
**


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